Smallest
by Triscribe
Summary: Keith's always been perfectly aware that Pidge was smaller than him, smaller than them all. But it had never been more glaringly obvious, or terrifying, than when the water closed over her head before even reaching his.
1. Chapter 1

"So... You wanna tell me how we wound up down here?" Keith mumbled, squinting around the dimly lit pit he and Pidge were trapped in.

"Last thing I remember was those Jhiniks yelling something in their native tongue, and then the exploding gas pods." The girl tried to readjust her position, but it was hard with both hands trapped by metal strips bolted into the rock wall. Keith was in the same state, and decidedly not happy about it.

"Hope the others were paying attention to the time," he muttered, pulling his legs up in order to rest his chin on his knees. "We should have been back to the Castle by now."

"They'll come find us, Keith. I just hope Lance isn't the one to get us out of here, or we'll never hear the end of it." Pidge's blunt statement and crooked grin got a snort out of him, at least. And then the noise started.

"Do you hear that?"

"Yeah... It sounds like... Water?"

Sure enough, clear liquid began to pour out of a few different holes in the wall, soon covering the floor of the small pit with a layer of ice water. Even through his armor, Keith started to shiver, and the teen turned his head to glare up at the grate above them, which only a few traces of sunlight were trickling down through.

"Hey!" He yelled. "If someone's controlling the water flow down here, knock it off!"

"Keith..."

"What?" The word came out with the same angry tone, but Keith's irritation vanished when three things suddenly registered in his mind:

One, the water level was rising really fast.

Two, Pidge was shorter than him, and as such had been bolted closer to the floor.

Three, the water would soon be high enough to drown the girl.

"Oh, quiznak," Keith muttered. "Pidge, how long can you hold your breath?"

"I get the feeling it's not going to matter if no one rescues us before this stuff gets over my head!" She replied, eyes wide with the start of panic.

"Okay, calm down, we'll make it out of here. We just need to, ah, maybe-"

"Keith, there's nothing we can do." The water was now up to Pidge's neck, and Keith's chest.

"There's got to be something! Damn it, why couldn't they have left us with our helmets?"

"Probably because they knew this would happen." Pidge craned her head upwards, trying to keep her face clear of the water as long as possible. "Keith- promise me something."

"What?"

"When you guys find my family, t-tell them I love them. That I never stopped looking."

"No, Pidge, I'm not going to promise that, because you're going to be with us when we find them-" The water rose over her mouth. "Pidge!"

Desperate, Keith struggled against his restraints, watching with terror as his teammate's nose was covered as well. Her teary eyes pinned him in place until they closed, the water still rising. It had completely covered Pidge's head by the time it reached Keith's chin. And there it stopped.

Sputtering in outrage, Keith pulled even harder against the metal and bolts. "No!" He shouted. "No, no, no! You don't get to drown her and not me! Damn you!" A few bubbles of air rose from Pidge's position, and he redoubled his efforts, not taking his eyes from where the small form had started to spasm beneath the surface.

"Keith?!" There was a sudden, metallic slam as something landed on the grate above him, and one small explosion later resulted in Shiro coming down with a splash.

"Pidge is under!" The red paladin gasped, frantic. "Get her out, quick!" Shiro's eyes widened, and he immediately dropped below the water level. Through the clear liquid, Keith could see the glow from his leader's hand as it ripped away Pidge's restraints, and then Shiro stood with her in his arms.

Pidge didn't cough. She didn't move. Keith's heart nearly stopped.

"I've got to get her topside," Shiro said. "Can you hold on a minute?"

"Yeah, yeah go!" The black paladin's jetpack flared, helping him climb out of the saturated pit. It was maybe twelve, fifteen feet to the surface, and once up there they disappeared from Keith's sight. He stayed put, allowing the water to settle after all of the thrashing around, frantically hoping against hope that Pidge hadn't drowned and died right in front of him.

A short while later, someone else called down, and Keith braced himself when Hunk arrived in the pit.

"Pidge?" He croaked.

"Breathing," Hunk answered, looking about as relieved as Keith felt. "Shiro had to give her CPR, but then she coughed up a bunch of water and he said she'll be fine."

Keith sighed, letting his head fall back against the wall. The adrenaline rush started to fade, and he had to let Hunk do most of the work with prying him loose and getting the both of them topside. Caught by a stiff breeze, Keith shivered, though his teammate made no comment. Hunk just offered an arm for him to lean on as they started walking back to the Castle, each beyond grateful that there were still five paladins of Voltron instead of four.

 _A/N: If I get more than five reviews for this by Saturday, I'll add a second chapter. If not, I'm content to leave it as a one-shot. The power's in your hands, people!_


	2. Chapter 2

_After the sheer amount of attention and reviews this got yesterday, it was made abundantly clear to me that you people wanted more. So, fluff! As for those of you interested in more angst, do know I plan to create more short stories like this in future, along with a few longer fics. I love Pidge and the other pilots to pieces, but messing with their heartstrings is just too easy._

 _...Wow, that just makes me sound absolutely cruel, doesn't it? Ah well, onwards!_

Chapter 2

"F-figures," Pidge mumbled, shivering despite the three blankets wrapped around her slight figure. "B-both of us g-get c-c-caught in that st-stupid pit, but _I'm_ the o-one who gets a f-f-flippin' c-c- _Ah-CHOO!"_

"Tough luck, pipsqueak," Keith grinned, sitting a bit further down the couch from her. Both of them were drinking a steaming concoction Coran had made, which would supposedly bolster their natural defenses and help cure Pidge's cold while preventing Keith from getting one in the first place. It did not, unfortunately, taste anything remotely like chicken soup.

"C-call me p-pips-squeak again and I s-swear I'll s-sneeze in all y-your f-food," the girl growled. Keith just chuckled at the threat.

Lance entered the room then, yawning as he rubbed at his back. "Man, I hate having to help Coran clean this place up. And puke is by far the worst thing I've had to scrub out of those healing pods."

Pidge kicked at the teen as he went by. Yelping, Lance swerved out of the way, only to trip over one of the chairs and fall flat on his face.

"S'what you g-get," she told him. "J-j-jerk."

"Did I say I blamed you?" Lance groaned, picking himself up off the floor. "Honestly, Pidge, being sick makes you even more bad-tempered than usual." He had to duck another kick.

"Careful, I think you've managed to stick both feet in your mouth, Lance. Again."

"Shut up, Keith." Grumbling further complaints under his breath, the other teen scooted out of Pidge's range before standing. He then continued on through the far door, heading for the bedrooms. As soon as they were alone again, Keith turned a concerned eye in Pidge's direction.

"W-what?" She asked.

"I know what you've been saying since we got back and you came out of the pod," he murmured. "But are you sure you're okay? And I know you're sick and buggy as hell, but after what you'd tried to get me to promise back there..."

Pidge stalled by taking a deep gulp of her soup. "I g-guess... M-maybe n-not, but... I'll m-manage."

Keith stared her down with a mixture of disbelief and persistent worry.

"I m-mean i-it!"

"Hmph." The older teen suddenly shifted places, moving to sit next to her and tugging on the bundled-up girl to get her to lean on him. "If you're teeth are still chattering, you haven't warmed up enough yet."

"Th-that's n- ah-ah- _Ah-CHOO!"_ Making good on her threat from earlier, Pidge's sneeze went straight into Keith's mug of soup. At her slightly bashful expression, he simply raised an eyebrow, before leaning forward to set the entire thing on the small center table. Pidge laughed, which turned into a coughing fit, the end of which saw her practically laying down in Keith's lap.

"Rest, Pidge," he murmured, rearranging her blankets slightly to make the girl's cocoon a bit more snug. "You can exact the rest of your revenge on me later."

"Y-you're gonna g-get it, t-too..."

"Only if you get better, Pip-Pidge."

"That's even w-worse."

"Then go to sleep, and start dreaming up ways to get back at me."

"Hn. Y-you're j-just as bad as h-him..."

"As who?"

"...M-matt. I've g-got jerks for b-brothers, all of y-you..." With that, Pidge dozed off, not noticing how stiff Keith had become. Tentatively, he reached down to push her bangs off her face, which led to running his fingers through her short, bouncy hair, smiling as he did so.

Eventually, Keith fell asleep as well, and Shiro found them both there a couple hours later. He shook his head with a grin, but made sure to drape an extra couple blankets over the pair before heading off to discuss supplies with Allura.

Team Voltron was, without a doubt, a family that just kept getting closer with every harrowing experience they survived.


	3. Chapter 3

_...I decided there needed to be more. You can thank or curse at me later._

Chapter 3

"When you guys find my family, t-tell them I love them. That I never stopped looking."

"No, Pidge, I'm not going to promise that, because you're going to be with us when we find them-" The water rose over her mouth. "Pidge!"

Desperate, Keith struggled against his restraints, watching with terror as his teammate's nose was covered as well. Her teary eyes pinned him in place until they closed, the water still rising. It had completely covered Pidge's head by the time it reached Keith's chin. And there it stopped.

Sputtering in outrage, Keith pulled even harder against the metal and bolts. "No!" He shouted. "No, no, no! You don't get to drown her and not me! Damn you!" A few bubbles of air rose from Pidge's position, and he redoubled his efforts, not taking his eyes from where the small form had started to spasm beneath the surface.

Shiro didn't find them for an hour.

By then Keith had given up in his struggles, and was simply lying limp against the wall, tears silently flowing down his face. Shiro called to him, shook his shoulders, but even after ripping away the teen's restraints Keith ignored him, only looking to where a green and white figure topped by brown locks had gone still ages ago. His friend finally turned around to see what the younger paladin was staring at, and paled. Diving beneath the water and freeing Pidge's body was pointless:

She was already dead.

Numb, Keith allowed himself to slip beneath the water's surface, sinking ever lower. All he could see were bubbles floating away from him, up to Pidge's slack face-

A firm knock on his bedroom door jerked Keith out of sleep with a gasp.

"Keith? C'mon buddy, it's almost chow time."

"Y-yeah, I'm coming."

The door slid aside to reveal Shiro's concerned face. "You sure you're okay? It's not like you to sleep this late. Maybe Pidge's cold was contagious after all-"

"No, I'm fine. Really. Just, didn't fall asleep for a while last night."

"Well, if that's all it was..."

"I'll see you at breakfast, Shiro." With that, Keith hit the button to close his door, before turning back and falling face-down onto his bed. "Ugh."

The rest of the day, he tried to hide how little rest he'd gotten, instead focusing on training or avoiding everyone else or both. Lance passed him in the hall at one point, but Keith didn't notice the worried look that was sent his way. Hunk tried to get him to hang out in kitchen while the yellow paladin prepared lunch, but he managed to make an excuse and headed off for the living room.

There, completely without meaning too, Keith sat down and promptly conked out.

" _Hey! If someone's controlling the water flow down here, knock it off!"_

" _Keith..."_

" _What?" The word came out with the same angry tone, but Keith's irritation vanished when he suddenly realized that the water was already up to his chin, that Pidge was submerged. "No!"_

 _Through the clear liquid, he could see her frantic struggles, the air bubbles escaping, the look of panic she sent his way that he couldn't do a single damn thing about-!_

"Keith!"

Flailing, Keith nearly fell off the couch as he clawed his way back to full awareness. Pidge was hovering nervously over him, hands twitching as though she wanted to grab his shoulders but didn't dare be that forward.

"Ah..." He panted, swivelling to check that they were alone in the room. Then, ignoring Pidge's startled _meep,_ Keith pulled the girl down beside him so that he could wrap his arms around her shoulders and tuck his chin on top of her messy hair.

"Keith, you're really worrying me now-"

"Bad dream," he said, swallowing back down the panic. "Just- just give me a minute, to make sure you're still here. Not dead."

Sucking in a breath as she finally understood, Pidge relaxed in his hold, slipping her own arms around the older teen's waist.

"Is... Is this why you've looked so tired today? Because you had nightmares last night too?" He nodded once, bumping her head with the motion. "...So did I."

"Oh."

"Drowning isn't fun."

"Watching someone drown isn't either," Keith muttered back. "Especially when it's a member of your family." He winced upon feeling Pidge tense up, but then she was tightening her grip, hugging him firmly enough to start driving the air from his lungs.

"Tell me the next time you have nightmares?" Pidge asked. "Because hugs always makes things better."

Keith huffed out a chuckle, patting her a couple times on the back. "I promise, Pip-Pidge."

"If we weren't in the middle of having a moment, I'd kick you for that."

"Guess I'm gonna have to get used to bruised shins, then, because that is _definitely_ what I'm calling you from now on."

"Don't you dare."

"Annoying older brother, remember?" Pidge pulled back just enough to look up at his face with a wry smile.

"Yeah. _Very_ annoying big brother. But, I suppose even you can't be as annoying as Lance."

"And thank the stars for that." They both chuckled, before finally standing and heading off to the kitchen to get their dinner.


End file.
